Asia and the Central American global connection. The trade in “efectos de China”, 18th century, by Ricardo Castellón
January 30, 2026, 15:00 Central European Time. Online via MS Teams.
This lecture examines the understudied role of the Reino de Guatemala (present-day Central America) in the trade of “Chinese goods” during the 18th century. To this end, it scrutinizes the antecedents of this phenomenon, as well as the spatial and temporal realities that contextualized it, through the analysis of sources, primarily archival materials. The findings demonstrate not only the important role of present-day Central America in the trade of asian goods throughout the Americas, but also their impact on the region’s economy. The results show how “peripheral” regions were, in fact, important connectors within the colonial global system.
Dr Ricardo CASTELLÓN is a researcher at the Berlin University of the Arts, holds a PhD in Philosophy (History) from the University of Cologne, Germany (2019), and a PhD in History from the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville, Spain (2013). His research focuses on family, mobility, and design in Central America, food culture, daily life, material culture, and intercolonial trade. His academic output includes articles, book chapters, and publications. Between 2018 and 2021, he was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Cologne, Germany. He has also been a fellow of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America (MECILA). He is a member of the German Association for Latin American Studies (ADLAF), the Design History Society, the Salvadoran Academy of History, and the Latin America-China Research Network.
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